June 5, 2011 @ 8:47 pm

This post is old, so what you see here may not reflect my current opinion and mindset, certain information may be outdated, and links may be broken.

Lately, I’ve been craving to watch a new anime series, and I decided to finally check out Nodame Cantabile. I’ve always wanted to watch it because the anime featured classical music, which I adore as an aficionado and as an amateur musician myself. So I started it last night and spent all of my Sunday watching the first season. Below is my spoiler-free review!

The Goods
* THIS ANIME CAUSES PURE CLASSICAL MUSIC ORGASM. All the orchestra scenes, the piano performances, all the musical terminology being featured in the anime . . . *_* I was in classical music heaven!
* All the supporting characters (From Mine to Masumi to even Stresemann . . . they really added to the whole series.
* I was impressed they added a couple of homosexual characters to the series. It somehow made things feel a bit more realistic.
* THE CLASSICAL MUSIC. Yes, I am emphasising this again!

The Bads
* Maybe it’s just me, but I almost felt like Chiaki was almost too perfect (despite his fear of flying and his uber-strict musicianship) of a character. I mean . . . good looks, rich, talented, smart, domesticated, and all those musical abilities . . . I dunno. I think I preferred someone like Mine over him.
* A lot of the classical pieces performed in the episodes are ones I’m not familiar with — which is a good thing since I get more exposure to different classical pieces. However, it’d be still nice to have a lot more pieces that are “overrated” and “famous” once in a while!

The Uglies
* In the first episode, Nodame intrigued me (her incredibly messy ways and her hygiene . . . ) but then she pulled the whole “I LOVE YOU SENPAI” thing and acted really stupid . . . ugh. Ever since she proclaimed her love for Chiaki, I’ve lost any respect for her. She’s a great player, I admit, but her annoying love for Chiaki just turned me off. Yes, I’m aware this anime is supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I think it would have been better without the whole romantic aspect.
* I did mention I liked Stresemann, but man his philandering ways were just too much for me. I don’t deny he’s a good conductor, but I’d certainly would not want to go partying with him!

Conclusion
It wasn’t a bad anime per se, but it wasn’t exactly the best thing I’ve ever seen neither. I mean, I really think it would have been better if Nodame hadn’t gone the “I LOVE YOU” route with Chiaki . . . I tried to like her, and there were times she was all right, but I found myself just getting aggravated with her throughout the whole series.

I did enjoy all the classical music bits in the anime. In fact, those are the only reasons why I’d even bother to watch the next two seasons. But I dunno if I can stomach any more of Nodame. Twenty-three episodes of her was a bit too much for me.

Hee! I don’t really keep up with recent animes, either! Nodame Cantabile was just one of those series that I’ve been meaning to watch for ages, and I finally got around to it. Oddly enough, I like the live-action dorama better than the anime . . . even though Nodame aggravated me in the live-action shows, too!

Well, I just couldn’t stand her . . . and in all honesty, I think the live-action version was way better than the anime XD;; I did a marathon of that, too, and ended up liking the actors and the actresses way better. Probably because I don’t really like the anime/manga character design so much, and also the live-action actors were a lot hotter :D . . . Though Nodame pissed me off in the live-action series, too X_X;;

Well, I think the live-action is much better. I did a live-action marathon after I watched the first season for the anime, and I ended up liking that one more . . . with the exception of Nodame. Still can’t stand her at all!

I’ve never really watched any anime before by choice – sometimes it was the only thing on TV, sometimes it was something a friend or family member wanted to watch. However, I do have a guilty pleasure in one of the manga series… Or two. Or it’s really a genre or two, haha. Quite embarrassing to say, though, because my friends have all commented about it before. D:

Yeah, haha! I sign onto my friend’s tumblr all of the time because that’s mostly what he follows. He follows a lot of people who are into it as well as post the comics and such, or links to the comics. But I feel really weird admitting it because I’m a girl, and blah. :/